Page 148 of Scarbound

“Thank you.”

Jun hung up.

Kija remained motionless for several seconds, phone still in his hand.

Back toward suicide.

So Noeul had tried to kill himself before. He hadn’t expected that. Those gentle, affectionate eyes had made Noeul seem almost carefree when they first met. Shy, perhaps. Melancholic beneath the surface. But Kija had never imagined the depth of what the young man was carrying.

His gaze drifted toward the living room. Chung-Hee was driving the person he claimed to love toward the edge while destroying himself in the process. Whatever had happened between them, whatever history connected their families, this could not continue. And as his friend, Kija could no longer pretend it was none of his business.

***

Jun called Noeul. Once. No answer. Twice. Nothing. By the fourth attempt, Jun was already stepping into the elevator when the call finally connected.

“Noeul, where are you?”

There was a brief silence. Then Noeul answered, his voice barely holding together.

“Don’t call me again. I want to be alone. Go to your friend.”

Jun ignored the bitterness in his voice. “At least tell me you’re okay.”

A hollow laugh came through the phone. “I feel like shit, but I’m not going to kill myself, if that’s what you want to know.”

Jun stopped moving. Noeul knew exactly why he was calling.

“I’m going to kill Chung-Hee,” Jun snapped. “How can he keep treating you like this?”

Noeul closed his eyes. Jun was genuinely worried. Furious, even. But Noeul didn’t want to be the reason they fought, no matter how badly Chung-Hee had hurt him.

“It’s understandable, Mr. Han,” he said quietly. “He blames me for his brother’s death. Wouldn’t anyone in his position hate me?”

“No.”

The answer came so quickly that Noeul fell silent.

Jun stepped out of the elevator. “No, Noeul. It isn’t. And even if he hated you, that still wouldn’t give him the right to treat you this way.”

Something tightened in Noeul’s throat. He looked away, though there was no one there to see him.

“I don’t think hatred is all he feels for you,” Jun added.

There was the sound of a door closing before Noeul answered. Jun realized he was outside.

“That’s true,” Noeul said. “But physical attraction alone isn’t enough to heal a relationship, is it?”

Jun sighed. “It’s not just physical attraction.”

“I don’t believe that.”

“Noeul…”

“If it were more than that, he wouldn’t torture me like this.”

Jun stopped beside his car. He had no immediate answer, because whatever Chung-Hee felt, Noeul was right about the part that mattered.

Love did not erase what his friend had done.